


Gridlock

by TallFreak7



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gridlock - Freeform, POV Sandor Clegane, Stuck in Traffic, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:09:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22410805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallFreak7/pseuds/TallFreak7
Summary: The highway is locked up. Complete gridlock, and who knows when it'll clear. Based off the smoke in the distance? Not anytime soon. All the motorist on the I-45 are stuck, including Sandor Clegane. Fortunately for him, Arya Stark is also stuck in traffic. And she has a white board.
Relationships: Sandor Clegane/Arya Stark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 106





	Gridlock

**Author's Note:**

> I saw [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6UzBWO5AaQ) scene in Mr.Magorium's Wonder Emporium and immediately thought of this idea for a story.

“Fucking I-45.” Sandor growled as he kicked out the stand of his bike.

He was on his way back into town after a weekend trip up north, the first vacation he’s had in years. Not that he did anything different then what he typically does on his days off, but getting away from the hustle and bustle and noise of the city was a fucking balm for his soul. He tried to stay calm, to take himself back to when he was alone and his only company was an ice cold beer and the stars.

Then the asshole behind him honked, and any peace he might have brought with him back into Eastpointe was fucking shot.

The honk was a futile effort by a desperate motorist to deny the reality in front of him. Truth was, traffic had been crawling for a while now. Sandor had barely been able to cover 30 miles in the last hour. But that was fucking lightspeed compared to how they were moving now.

Which was not at all.

Gridlock.

“You think I wanna fucking be stuck here?” Sandor growled over his back, knowing the guy wouldn’t be able to hear him. Not with the way his music was blaring.

Not that he was special. It seemed all the cars surrounding Sandor had their own little soundtrack going, especially the van to his left. He couldn’t make out the lyrics, not that he’d be able to recognize them, but he could tell just from who was in the car exactly what they were listening to. A bunch of young 20 something women, college kids most likely, laughing and tossing around what seemed like clothes, probably coming off a shopping trip.

Sandor snorted. “Top 40, no doubt.”

He might as well pass the time by guessing what music the other assholes maxing out their speakers were listening to, which he knew was creepy but it was either that or just stare into space until traffic started moving again, and if the sirens and smoke coming from the distance was anything to go by he was going to be staring for a while. Plus he had on his sunglasses, so he could at least hide his staring a little.

_*Tap* *Tap*_

Sandor just barely heard it, with it mostly being muffled by the impromptu symphony of car horns and commute DJs, but couldn’t tell where it came from. He ignored it, chalking it up to just some kids fucking around cause they were board. Which he couldn’t begrudge them for.

_*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*_

His fellow motorist must have gotten bored with their horns, as he was able to hear it much clearer this time. So clear, in fact, he was able to track it back to the source, turning his attention back to the Top 40 van.

Something was different this time though, the music was still blaring, clothes were still flying, and the girls were still laughing without a care in the world. All except one. One with short dark hair, a light dusting of freckles, and big, bright, grey eyes. This girl wasn’t joining in the revelry with her fellow passengers, instead opting to stare those grey eyes out the passenger window.

Right at him.

She grinned as soon as his attention was on her, and gestured with her head to the white board she had pressed to the glass that he _just_ noticed. On it was a sequence of numbers she must have written with him in mind. Sandor tilted his head in confusion, immediately thinking of the stupid nickname his coworkers had given him and how accurate it really was. Which was apparently not the reaction she had been hoping far, as her eyes rolled skyward before taking the white board down and quickly writing on it, while Sandor could only stare in befuddlement.

Back up the whiteboard went, this time with a lot of underlining for the assumed phone number. Accompanying the new flair, in giant letters, were the words TEXT ME, also underlined many times and ending with way too many exclamation points to count. And the cherry on the weird ass sundae, was an arrow pointing right at the message maker herself, a pleading look on her face.

Sandor scrunched his eyebrows, but thought about it anyway. In all likely hood, it was a scam. Probably one of those text donation systems. No way a pretty young thing like that would want to talk to him through any means, his sunglasses doing nothing to hide the hellscape of his maw from her eyes. But he also was bored out of his mind, and knew his “Guess the Tune” game would end far before this gridlock did.

“Fuck it.” He muttered, pulling his phone out of his bag. He saw out the corner of his eye that the white-board-girl’s smiled. He typed out the number, knowing in his head he was doing something super stupid.

_Always good to give to charity._

Hey

Oh thank god you actually texted me

Wait, this is the dude on the bike right?

Yeah, that’s me

Prove it

How many fingers am I holding up?

Sandor looked, just in time to see her flip him off with a shit eating grin. He returned the gesture, fighting himself not to smile.

Wow

Devious

In my defense

It was way too easy

Fair

Why did you want me to text you white-board-girl

Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to talk to strangers

First of all, technically we’re texting, not talking

Semantics

Ooh, big word

And second of all, my name is Arya

Nice to meet you

Sandor

There, added you to my contacts and everything

Not a stranger anymore

Clever

But you never answered my question

Why are you just handing your number out?

Because, if you are not aware, we are stuck in gridlock traffic

And

I

Am

Bored

With all those people in your car?

These bitches?

(Kidding, I call them that but don’t mean it. Kind of an inside joke)

Nah, they’re not really my friends. One is my sister and the rest are all her friends

I just got dragged along

Mom said I needed to spend more time with Sansa

Who is my sister, fyi

And I will never do it again

That bad?

I have been hearing them talk about shoes and skirts and bras

All

Day

And. I. Am. Sick. Of. It.

Damn

So I can either sit here and contemplate the easiest way to end my life

Or I can text the stranger with a kick ass motorcycle

It is a pretty cool bike

Yes, it is

So, as I said

Thank God you texted me

Why the fuck do you have a white board anyway?

Who just carries with them a white board?

Definitely not me

It’s Sansa’s

Said its for road trip games

Wow

I know

Anyway, tell me about yourself Sandor

As a damsel in distress, I simply must know about my knight in shining armor

_Damsel in distress._ Sandor snorted to himself. _Right._

I aint no knight

And I don’t know many damsels who would flip their knights off on first meeting

That’s because I am one of a kind Sandor

I noticed

You’re stalling

Am not

Oh yes you are

I’m a private person

Which I get

We did just meet

But at least give me the elevator speech

Age

Job

Fun Facts

Stuff like that

Hard to really converse otherwise

Converse?

I can use big words, too

That word is about as big as you

Wow

First of all

How dare you

Second of all

How can you even tell how tall I am?

I’m in a car, could be 7 feet tall

You wouldn’t know

I can tell based on everyone else in the car

That’s not reliable

What if my seat is just lower than theirs?

Is it?

No

But it could have been

AH, your stalling again!

Don’t know what you’re talking about

Fine, I’ll start

I’m 23, and I work at Winterhold Gym as a personal trainer

Hey I go to Winterhold

East or West?

West

Nooooooo

Sandor you gotta go to the East one

Why?

West always gets the hand me down machines

And the staff are the worst, we always try to avoid dealing with them

But most importantly

I work at the East gym

Hm, I’ll look into it

Its not far from where you live is it?

Nah, maybe 5 minutes further

Great, hope I see you there

Why?

What do you mean why?

Why do you hope to see me?

You don’t even know me

Well I would know you better if you answered my questions

Fine

I’m 35, work at King’s Construction

Oooh, a construction man

I half expected you to say you were in a biker gang

I used to be

NO WAY

I was totally joking

Were you really?

Yeah, when I was young

A bad boy I see

To the bone.

Sandor cringed the moment he sent it, his fingers having moved before his brain could stop them. What a fucking stupid line, what the hell was he trying here? He just said she didn’t know him, and he definitely didn’t’ know her, yet he goes and drops a line on her like that? What the fuck was he thinking?

But he knows what he was thinking, it’s the same thing he’s been thinking since he first saw her.

_Holy fucking shit she’s gorgeous_

His eyes roamed back to her, to watch the grimace the line deserved form on her face. But it never came, instead her hand immediately went to her mouth and her shoulders shook. Her eyes seeked out his and instead of the judgment he expected all he saw was mirth. She was tickled pink, struggling to hide it from her fellow car mates, and it was all because of him. He grinned right back at her, ignoring for the first time how the expression would distort his scars.

Okay, that was funny

I could tell

You almost chocked yourself to death

I had to!

You caught me off guard

Don’t want everyone to hear

I know they’d wanna know who I was texting

Cause they are nosy like that

And I definitely don’t wanna tell them I’m texting the biker hunk next to us

Margery would pounce

Hunk?

Sandor blinked a couple times, to make sure he wasn’t just imagining the adjective she just attached to him. He glanced at her to make sure she wasn’t wearing that shit eating grin again, then he’d know she was fucking with him. No grin in sight, instead the grimace that he had expected previously decided to make an appearance.

Shit

You know how sometimes you think about saying something

While saying something else

And then accidently say out loud the part that was supposed to just stay in your head?

That just happened to me

You think I’m a hunk?

I get it already!

I’m already embarrassed enough as it is

No need to rub it in

Why the hell would you think I’m a hunk?

Are you serious?

Sandor, have you looked at yourself?

Yeah, every day

That’s why I’m so confused

Then you need glasses my good man

Luckily I have 20/20 vision

So I can tell you what you are missing

No, I think I can point out one big thing you’re missing

You mean your scar?

You think that makes you ugly?

No way

Absolutely not

Have you looked at my face?

I’m looking at it right now

Sandor growled at the screen, turning quickly to catch the eye of the watchful Arya. She smiled at him, frustrating him even further. _Maybe my glasses hide more then I thought_. Sandor rationalized, ripping the offending glassware off to meet Arya’s eyes with his fully for the first time. Her smile seemed to get even bigger, much to his puzzlement, before she quickly looked down at her lap.

Sandor scoffed, thinking this was the end of their little traffic correspondence now that she’s seen his face fully, and trying to ignore the disappointment slowly bleeding into his bones. These thoughts were short lived, as his phone vibrated yet again.

Yup, still a hunk

Wait

Oh shit

Oh god this is embarrassing

I get it now

Shit

Sorry

Normally I’m better at seeing this

Happens a lot with me actually

What the fuck are you talking about girl?

I get it

Really I do

She is really pretty, can understand why you’d want her

What the fuck?

Who?

My sister!

Who the fuck is your sister?

Sansa, the red head in the drivers seat.

Sandor suddenly realized he had no idea what anyone else in Arya’s vehicle even looked like, his eyes tunneling so hard onto Arya that the rest of them just faded into the background. He glanced up, ignoring the befuddling disappointment clear on Arya’s face, to the driver of the Arya-van. Red hair, women, in the driver seat. Her info checked out. Pretty enough, sure. Arya levels, no. _Now why the fuck is Arya talking about me liking her? A woman I just noticed?_

I don’t want her

Why the hell would I want her?

I just noticed her

Oh come on man, don’t do that

I’m a big girl, I can take rejection, but lying is just shitty

I don’t fucking lie

And I don’t want her

I had no idea what anyone else in that van even looked like till now

So what the fuck are you talking about?

You don’t find me pretty compared her

Sandor laughed, a deep belly laugh. A laugh that seemed to echo all over the gridlocked highway, overtaking even the blaring music and blaring horns of all the stuck motorist. He had to, how the hell could he read _that_ and not laugh. A fucking beauty like that? Not pretty? Best joke he’s ever fucking read.

You’re laughing

I can see it

Hell, I can even hear it

Which is impressive

But I can’t seem to understand why

Because that is the best fucking joke I’ve ever read

You?

Not pretty?

Nah you’re right

You’re fucking gorgeous girl

I ain’t ever seen a girl look like you before

And your sister ain’t even in your league

Really?

Yes girl, you’re crazy if you think I’m looking anywhere else

Wow

Thanks, I mean

Okay I don’t really know what to say now

Never really had anyone say anything like that before

Thanks, again

It really means a lot

No one’s ever said you were pretty?

Really?

I don’t believe it

Well some guys have

But then they’d meet my sister

And suddenly things were different

They were different

Towards me

Then they were cunts

Guess so

But you’re not

No, I’m not

Okay so I know we haven’t technically met

But I would really like to

Meet you, that is

Do you think you’d like to get some coffee or something sometime?

Sandor stared at those 12 words, running them over in his head repeatedly until they completely lost their meaning and became a pile of word paste.

_She wants to go on a date? With me? What the fuck?_

He glanced at her, hoping to meet her eyes so he could figure out if this whole thing was just a joke, a prank played by her and the other inhabitants of the car to get the freak’s hopes up before crushing them into dust. But she seemed to be purposely not looking at him, drumming her hands on the dash in what he hoped was a nervous gesture. Sandor took a deep breath and started typing at his phone before he could talk himself out of it.

_Texting her at all was stupid, how much worse could agreeing to go on a date be?_

Hell yes

I’d love that

Sandor heard a joyous cheer, even over the horns and sirens, and quickly snapped his eyes to see it came from Arya. She had the biggest grin he’d seen yet on her face as she stared at her phone, almost like she could barely believe it was real, before typing away.

Great!

So where would you aqwfmqoeim

Aadajfasfxmvv

Aeqweq

Af

_What the fuck?_

Sandor looked over in concern, only to see Arya attempting to dive into the back seat of the van, the only thing holding her back being her sister. In the back seat someone was holding a phone victoriously, typing on it giddily. Everyone seemed to be yelling, about what Sandor had no idea, but it seemed really important based off the look on Arya’s face.

Suddenly his phone ringed. He looked, shocked to see Arya was calling him, even though he could see she wasn’t holding her phone.

Sandor answered and cautiously brought the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“HI!” A far too cheerful voice said on the other end. “So you’re the man Arya’s been ignoring us for.”

“Uhh.”

“Margery I swear to god I’ll kill you if you don’t give me my phone back.” A very angry voice said in the background, while another tried to soothe her.

_So that’s what she sounds like._ Sandor thought.

“Oh hush Arya, I was just curious. Weren’t you curious how your new beau sounded?”

“Margery!” Arya growled in warning.

“So, as her friends we felt it appropriate to find out who you are. Figure out if you’re the right fit for our little Arya.” Margery continued, seemingly ignoring Arya.

“Margery come on, stop it.” A fourth voice sounded off.

“Oh don’t tell me you aren’t curious Jeyne.” Margery dismissed.

Sandor couldn’t even answer if he wanted to, everyone rushing to talk over each other leaving him with little room to actually get a word in. Glancing over, he could see Arya’s eyes dashing between him and the phone thief known as Margery. Suddenly an idea struck him, a really funny, really fucking stupid idea, but so far those have been working out pretty well for him today so why stop now?

Without hanging up, he swung his leg over and stood off his bike, spending a little bit of time to enjoy the change in position after sitting for so long. Arya’s eyes were almost exclusively on him now, eyes widened and looking him up and down, almost assuredly marveling at his height. Sandor took the few steps over to her car and leaned down, his face level with the girl’s in the back who had her back to him, before he knocked on the window.

The girl jumped, as did seemingly everyone else in the vehicle, and quickly turned around. Once she got a look at him, though, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock. This reaction was mirrored almost exactly by everyone else except of course Arya, though she was just as surprised as the others.

Sandor put his phone back to his ear, and rasped to the other end. “Give Arya back her phone.”

If their eyes were wide before, they were positively saucers now. They looked at Arya’s phone, looked at him, looked at Arya, then back to him. Mouth agape, Margery slowly handed Arya back her phone. Arya snatched it back, shooting a glare at Margery before gifting him with a smile as she put the phone up to her ear. “My knight comes to save me yet again. We still on for coffee?”

Sandor grinned, holding in his laughter at the looks on the other’s faces. “I’m no bloody knight, and make it dinner.” He said before he turned and sauntered back to his bike.

Once he was fully seated the truck behind him honked yet again. Sandor turned, fire in his eyes, and growled. Before he could yell at the driver another honk sounded, as if in solidarity, behind Arya’s van. Sandor looked over, seeing that they all were still staring at him, before looking ahead.

Only to see that traffic had finally started moving again, albeit slowly. And there was at least a three-car gap between where they sat and where the rest of traffic was moving away.

_When the hell did that happen?_ Sandor thought, kicking up the stand on his bike before tucking his phone away and giving one last glace to Arya. She wasn’t paying attention, typing out on her phone what was probably multiple messages to him about what just happened. He leaned over and knocked on her window, making her look up and smile at him yet again.

_God damn that smile._

He gestured in front of her, leading her to make the exact same discovery he had that she then conveyed to her sister. With a final wave and a wink, Sandor rode off, suddenly really looking forward to his next day off.


End file.
